The PQRST Method of Studying

Quelle:http://www.dscc.cc.tn.us/vblack/pqrst.htm
(02-11-30)

PREVIEW an assignment by scanning
it. Read the chapter outline at the beginning of the
chapter. Pay attention to the headings of the sections and
subsections. Read the summary. The point is to get an
idea of the main topics and sections of the chapter.
(Numbers 2, 3, and 4 are done at the same time)

QUESTION yourself by making questions
of the headings of each section and subsection.

As you READ the assignment, look for
the answers to the questions you have made.

SELF-RECITATION requires that you try
to remember the main points of each section and that you say them out
loud (if possible) to yourself.

You TEST yourself after you have
finished the entire chapter. How many of the main ideas from
the chapter can you remember?

Now you are really starting to store your studies into long-term
memory!

The SQ3R Method

Studying works better when it means something to you, when it
relates to your life. There are a number of ways to do this and I
recommend you try as many as you can. One fact which we all know from
our own experience and psychological research has documented is that
we remember things better when they are connected to emotions. This
includes that funny sort of emotion "curiosity" and the nice
experience of having it satisfied. So, one way to have things stick
more is to find things that you're curious about.

Less intuitive, perhaps, but again documented, and believable once
you think about it, is the fact that we remember things better when
they are interconnected. To take an example, which of the following
lists of 5 words would be easier for you to remember?

For most of us, the second is easier, because it means something*,
it is a list of things that are interconnected. Making such
connections is called elaboration in cognitive psychology and the
more elaborate your schema for something, the better able you are to
remember it: Chess experts have better memories for positions of
pieces in a chess game than do novices, but not if the pieces are
randomly placed on the board. You can use these facts about human
minds in your own studying by actively making connections between
ideas. Any connections seem to help, but the ultimate connection
seems to be to things you care about in your life where you bring in
the emotion as well.

SQ3R (Robinson, 1970) is a method for active elaboration of
material that you read, say in a textbook. It consists of 5 steps.
I'll talk in terms of a chapter from the text, but this can be
adapted to almost anything.

1. Survey (1 minute): Before beginning
reading look through the whole chapter. See what the headings are --
the major ones and the subheadings; hierarchical structures seem to
be particularly easy for our brains to latch onto -- check for
introductory and summary paragraphs, references, etc. Resist reading
at this point, but see if you can identify 3 to 6 major ideas in the
chapter.

2. Question (usually less than 30 seconds):
Ask yourself what this chapter is about: What is the question that
this chapter is trying to answer? Or -- along the curiosity lines --
What question do I have that this chapter might help answer? Repeat
this process with each subsection of the chapter, as well, turning
each heading into a question.

3. Read (slower for some of us than others!):
Read one section at a time looking for the answer to the question
proposed by the heading! This is active reading and requires
concentration so find yourself a place and time where you can
concentrate.

4. Recite/write (about a minute): Say
to yourself (I do this out loud so I have to study where I don't
embarrass myself) or write down (I sometimes do this in the margins
of the book itself ) a key phrase that sums up the major point of the
section and answers the question. It is important to use your own
words, not just copy a phrase from the book. Research shows that we
remember our own (active) connections better than ones given to us
(passive), indeed that our own hierarchies are generally better than
the best prefab hierarchies.

5. Review (less than 5 minutes): After
repeating steps 2-4 for each section you have a list of key phrases
that provides a sort of outline for the chapter. Test yourself by
covering up the key phrases and seeing if you can recall them. Do
this right after you finish reading the chapter. If you can't recall
one of your major points, that's a section you need to reread.

This method works. It works for me and it has worked for many
students in the past. If you have recommendations for how to improve
it, I would welcome them for the "next edition" of this
mini-lesson.

In fact, one good way to remember the first list is to make it
mean something, say by adding words: My dog always has a smoke when
the question arises of just what life means -- note here too that the
humorous image adds an emotion making the sentence even easier to
remember, although remembering which words were actually on the list
may be a problem.